


Understanding

by sixbeforelunch



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-25
Updated: 2007-02-25
Packaged: 2017-10-07 04:36:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixbeforelunch/pseuds/sixbeforelunch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Vala before The Shroud. Spoilers for The Quest part 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Understanding

Daniel's office has been empty since he went missing. No one--not Landry, not the members of SG1, not the social sciences department that's always complaining about lack of space--has suggested that it be given to someone else. Vala comes in here a lot. Sometimes she just sits in Daniel's chair until she remembers that he won't be walking in any minute to kick her out of it. Sometimes she hacks into his computer and renames his files--not the important ones, just the music collection. (When he gets back, Daniel is going to try to play K.D. Lang and end up with 50 Cent.) Sometimes she walks in and finds Sam or Teal'c standing in the office, performing their own private mourning. She's gotten to know them well enough that it's easy to figure out when to stay and when to go.

When she walks in to find General O'Neill in Daniel's office, Vala's at a loss. She's met the man twice before, in passing, and never spoken to him alone. Vala sees the act. O'Neill plays the fool most of the time when anyone with half a brain can see that he's anything but. She stands in the doorway, shifting from foot to foot, more nervous that she's used to.

"Daniel got Abydos destroyed, you know."

Vala doesn't ask how O'Neill knew she was there when he's got his back to the door. She takes a step into the office. O'Neill turns around and looks her over, face dark and unreadable. Vala puts on her default smile, the one that makes her look harmless and...Cam calls it ditsy. It's obvious O'Neill doesn't buy her act any more than she buys his.

"Sha're would still be alive if he'd never unburied the gate. He got his wife killed and her planet destroyed because he couldn't leave it the hell alone."

Vala drops the smile. "I don't--"

"You don't know that story. No, you wouldn't. No one talks about it that way, but it's true. Daniel doesn't know how to stop pushing. He gets people killed."

Vala can see where this is going. Frankly, she's always wondered at the way no one seems to bring it up. "And you think it's the same thing with the Ori? That Daniel...that we--" because if they're going to be laying blame here, Vala is going to take her fair share "--are responsible for the Ori coming here."

"You aren't?"

"No. The Ori are responsible for the Ori coming here."

"Daniel told them we exist."

Vala is shaking a little bit. Daniel has a lot of respect for this man and that's the only thing that keeps her from calling him an idiot and walking out. "Do you have any idea how the universe works? You've been out there for ten years, I can't believe you're still this clueless. You think sticking your head in the leaves is going to make it all go away. The Ori would have found us eventually just like the Goa'uld would have eventually figured out that Ra wasn't around anymore and gone in to take over his territories. You don't survive in this galaxy by pretending you're all alone. You survive by finding out what's going on, by searching, by pushing. Even if it's risky. Even if it means risking your own life. Or people you care about."

O'Neill steps closer. Vala forces herself not to move back. "You really believe that?"

"Yes."

O'Neill taps the SG-1 patch on her shoulder. "Then I guess you deserve this after all," he says.

After he leaves, Vala leans against Daniel's work table, angry. She's angry at O'Neill for testing her as though she hasn't already proved herself and absolutely furious at him for using Daniel to do it. But mostly she's angry with herself for letting it mean so much that she passed.


End file.
